Rachel Bilson to leave ‘Nashville’

Rachel Bilson, who joined Nashville in Season 5 as Highway 65’s chief strategy officer Alyssa, is not returning for the CMT drama’s upcoming sixth season, TVLine has confirmed. Per sources, Bilson’s Nashville‘s commitment was always intended to be for just one season. The O.C./Hart of Dixie actress will next star opposite Eddie Cibrian in ABC’s light detective procedural Take Two.

On Nashville, Bilson’s Alyssa was a Silicon Valley transplant whose ideas often clashed with Deacon’s more traditional sensibilities. Still, that didn’t stop her from planting a surprise kiss on him in the Season 5 finale — which, we now know, will function as the character’s swan song.